Post-Game Quotes: Indiana

Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement…
Obviously very disappointed not being able to close this game out. We got outplayed in the second half. You can point to any aspect of the team – offense, defense, special teams – where we had opportunities to execute, and didn't do them for 60 minutes. We had the opportunity to win the game and weren't able to get it done, so, very, very disappointed, especially for our seniors' last game in the Woodshed. We appreciate our fans coming out on a day where it was pretty chilly. We had a really good crowd, and we appreciate that. We have one game left, and I know our guys are going to show up to practice ready and prepared for the last opportunity. But, certainly a very disappointed locker room. We're sick about it.

On Indiana's kickoff returns and the last field goal in regulation…
On the kickoff returns, they hit us with a couple field returns. We didn't have very good leverage to the field. The first one, we lost leverage with a couple of guys. The same thing happened in the second half. At the end there, we had the opportunity to end it with a field goal. We tried to get it as close to middle field as we could, called a timeout with three seconds, and missed it to the left.

On the communication situation on the last drive in regulation…
We were trying to score a touchdown. We had a couple timeouts. We wanted to make sure we had the right plays. We had the situation at the end of the Illinois game – they didn't have any timeouts – and we didn't want to leave it up to a field goal. This game, we were down there pretty tight, they didn't have any timeouts, and so, we were trying to score a touchdown. We ran it one last time, to see if we could pop one, and we didn't score on third down. We called a timeout with three seconds and missed a field goal. We weren't initially playing for a field goal because it wouldn't make sense for us to try to do that. But ultimately, that's what happened. We didn't make it. It was a lack of execution. That's pretty much what happened. But, we did want to make sure we had the right plays called, everybody was on the same page. We did have the timeouts remaining, so we were able to get that done.

On playing against a mobile quarterback…
I wouldn't say it's a lack of experience. We've played against some quarterbacks this year that were mobile. You have to be able to get guys on the ground and make tackles. Usually when you have a mobile quarterback, you end up in a one-on-one tackling situation, and you have to be able to win those one-on-one battles. We were able to get them on the ground sometimes, and sometimes we weren't. Our tackling really needs to improve overall. We need to get more guys at the point of attack because we can't really leave it up to just one guy to make a tackle one-on-one. The way we're built, we need to be able to get multiple guys to get a stop.

On his kick return strategy…
We did a couple different types of kicks. We did what we could to try and change it up. We're not exactly sure all the time when we kick the ball of where it's going to go, so that's a little bit of an issue for us.

On what the team has to do to bounce back from Saturday's result…
It's a little bit different when you're on the inside. When you're inside and actually on the team or on the staff, we look at it whether we lose by one score or get blown out, it comes down to execution. When we pull out the tape and review it with the players, we point out to them why we didn't win this down, or why they scored, or why we weren't able to move the chains, and then we fix it. As long as everyone understands what needs to be done to fix it, we make the corrections so we can move on and make sure that it doesn't happen again. Any time you lose, it hurts the same. So, I don't know what; we're not going to cry about it. We haven't done that so far. We're not going to make excuses. We have to get it fixed and move on. The most important thing is what we do next, so we have to learn from it and make sure we understand so that when we face something like this next time, these things don't happen. It's either do that, or just quit. You could just pack it in. I don't know how else to move on unless you either try to fix it, or go into a tank and feel sorry for yourself and be a soft, non-competitor. You can look for someone to feel sorry for you, but that's not going to happen here. We just have to buckle up and block out the noise. I told the guys that we have to block out the noise, because there is going to be a lot of it, just like there has been all season. We have to move on from it. That takes mental toughness and character. I think this team has shown that we do have that, so we are going to need more of it. It's as simple as that.

On the development of the team's run game…
The run game has been consistent for the past few games, when we've been able to get room in the run game. It has been more than just one back, and it has been more than just one type of run. Our guys are understanding the scheme a lot better; where the ball needs to hit. They're doing a really good job of blocking the plays. Our tight ends are doing a really good job in the run game, and the receivers there have been a big part of that. When we do have an opportunity to check out of some plays, Payton (Thorne) does a really good job of recognizing the fronts and seeing pressures coming, making sure that we're getting into the right play. We've been fairly consistent over the past few weeks in being able to run the ball, so we knew we would be able to run it today. We knew we would be able to throw it as well. We felt that we would be able to move the ball on these guys consistently based on what we saw on tape. That's not to take anything away from those guys (at Indiana). They are good players. They are big up front, and they are well-coached. They play hard, but we felt like we could match that and be able to move the ball, which we were able to do. In the second half, we needed more points. We need to do a better job on special teams, obviously. We thought that special teams was going to be the difference in this game, and it was. We thought that we would do better.

On what needs to be done to improve before MSU's regular season finale at Penn State…
Nothing really surprises me. It comes down to execution. Guys are playing hard, and we had our moments, but there's not that much of a difference between us and most of the teams that we play. Some of the teams we play, there is maybe a difference in depth or talent, but most of the teams that we play are fairly evenly matched. It does come down to field position, special teams, a big play here or there. It's not a matter of unraveling, it's just that the margins are very slim. You can look really good one minute, and you can look really bad the next minute, just because it's that close. One guy doesn't do what he is supposed to do on kickoff coverage; we don't have a lot of margin for error, so when one guy doesn't do his job, it's a touchdown. That's what it is. It's not a matter of lacking effort, or guys not knowing what to do. We have to be perfect, most of the time, to be able to execute in this conference. When we're not, we don't look very good. That's what happened. We were moving the ball in the second half, and we got them stopped in the second half at times. They made more plays. You can ask if it was execution. Well, when we turn on the film, it's going to be death by inches. That's what it's going to be. Right after this, when I go back to the office and turn the film on, I'll want to vomit. One block missed here. One guy who's not in his lane on kickoff here. Missed field goal here. Missed tackle. That's what it is. That's why we have to come back ready to work tomorrow, so we can eliminate our mistakes. I know that our guys will do that, because that's what they have always done. They are very high-character guys. Our guys have shown that they can respond to adversity, pretty much all season. Our guys know how to respond. They have perspective, and this is a really good life lesson for our guys; to know how to respond to adversity from a football standpoint. That's how it's going to be in life. Things are not always going to go your way. When you get knocked down, you have to get up. That's what we're going to have to do tomorrow. I have confidence in our young men, that we will respond in the right way. We have one more opportunity. It's a great opportunity to go on the road and put our best foot forward. The more I think about it, the more I'm looking forward to it.

Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen

Opening Statement...
I just want to say that I am really proud of our players; the fight that they showed today was unbelievable. Down at halftime, all we had going here recently, just having a hard time getting wins, just being able to come on the road and get a huge win, and to win a trophy game. I just could not be more proud of our guys. The offensive line stepped up running the football, Dex (Dexter Williams II) in his first start gets a win and just trying to maximize our roster to help us find a way to get the ball in the end zone and get some key stops and find a way to win. I was really proud of our guys and our coaching staff for staying together and fighting to the finish.

On what caused the comeback…
There's always a difficult analysis of what causes things to happen, and how do you dig yourself out. So, there is no question that you begin to lose your confidence once the game does not go your way, and so, when you start to get that back it is a powerful thing, belief is a powerful thing, and I think our guys had shown they could go score, that builds that belief and the ability to give that little extra effort on every single rep. Just block a little longer, just enough for our guy to get a few extra yards to stay on the field. At halftime, it was not where we expected to be or wanted to be. I expected it to be a dogfight, I just thought it would be. I just thought our guys were going to play really hard, and they did, but did not want to be down at halftime, but I'll tell you what it gave us a chance to be even more resilient. And to do in on the road is really tough and in these conditions, that was one of the colder games I have ever been a part of in terms of temperature and the wind. It is tough, it creates a lot of variables in the kicking game that are uncertain, and obviously that showed today too. But the bottom line is, that confidence of ours kept growing in the second half and just thought our guys believed we were going to find a way to win the game. And when it got to the fourth quarter, you could just see by the energy of the sideline, we were within seven at that point and so we had dug ourselves out of pretty big hole. There is nothing like experiencing some success on the field. That locker room deserved that in a huge way, these guys have stayed the course and blocked out all of the outside noise.

On Dexter's first career start and what he said to him after going down 17 points, and what he liked about his game today...
I thought he got a little rattled in the second quarter, to be honest, but you know what, you only learn how to handle those situations by going through them. And so, he now has that in his experience and his toolkit. But what I told him was just to relax and just be you. But obviously he lacks experience, and so, you do not get it any other way other than doing it. We just stayed the course and we were kind of waiting to see how things would start in the second half to see if we thought about making a change there just to be able to get ourselves back on track if we thought we needed to that. But then we started to get it going. It is just a matter of having a feel for the game and I think he had a great feel for it, I just told him to be you. And whatever that is, he got some key first downs with his legs when the protection may have broken down. Obviously, the quarterback runs are a big part of what we wanted to do, just felt like that would give us a chance to run the football and honestly, we knew we had to. We just knew we had to run the football against these guys with these conditions with the way they were going to play the game on both sides, so that was the plan going in. I am just really proud of our coaching staff and our guys for executing.

On the defensive struggling in the second quarter…
There were a couple of things structurally that we made some adjustments with. But the biggest thing to me was, guys at the point of attack finishing the play. The second quarter is where we lost our ability to execute, just not finishing plays, just to be where you are supposed to be when you get there, finish and know when someone is getting cut off on a run block, playing with technique and using your hands up front, or being a backer and a safety and finishing the tackle when you get the chance to start making those plays in the second half. And I will say this, their (MSU's) two receivers, I think they are really good. I would put them up there with the best that we have played against as a duo without question. They catch everything. They've got a really good ability to get open, because we threw about every coverage we had at them in the first half, but then we just changed some things a little bit, we got some penalties, we got some interference calls. I just said, guys keep playing. Do not allow that to force you to become not being aggressive. We knew we had to be aggressive. Just keep being aggressive. I do not like those calls, but I do not wear a striped shirt, so I do have no control in calling that. But at the same time, it is part of the game, so our guys they did that. There were some key plays in the second half, it was key breakups. And obviously, their fans might have been lobbying for a penalty, but in this league, it is that way, it is physical, tough football on the perimeter or in the box. We made some adjustments schematically, and our guys made more plays and that is what it comes down to. There is no magic scheme, magic is not a belief, magic is in the players executing the scheme.

On what allowed them to become better in the run game…
One key thing was just being able to add the quarterback into the run game, to just be quite blunt about it. It creates issues, gap issues, it's another guy in the run fit that they have to add. So we needed to do that, and that was definitely part of the plan. We had a more extensive plan than we had this time last week for sure. I thought our coaches did a great job implementing it and executing it, so that to me was a bigger difference than everything. Then you've got Shaun Shivers who I know is a really good football player. We had a hard time getting him free this year, but we knew if you could get him a crease, he has the speed to go the distance. And I think we have three good backs, they are all different, but they all bring a different thing to the table. I am just so proud of Shaun too for staying with us and believing in us, and he has such a great attitude. I know he has not had the production that he has wanted, but he saved his best for a really important game for us. I'm just so proud of everybody and on offense, just sticking to the game plan, even when we got down 17 points. We just said no we are sticking to the game plan and we just drove our way right back into it.

Michigan State Redshirt-Senior RB Elijah Collins

On getting into a rhythm…
I just kept thinking about what was going to happen when it was all said and done, was it going to be a game where I left it out on the field or would it be a game that I looked back on and had regrets, and I didn't want to have any regrets. When I went out there it was unfortunate that Jarek (Broussard) went down, but I wasn't looking to establish a rhythm, I was just worrying about running the ball and doing my job, that's being a good teammate, doing your 1/11th.

On what he saw at the end of regulation…
Initially the play was to the right, but when I looked I saw a small hole backside, the defensive line washed it down so I was thinking there would be a small crease backside given that it was 3rd-and-short, I was trying to find any advantage that I could. At the same time probably the better play would have been to keep it front side and set up a more centered field goal for the kicker. So for me I have to take responsibility for that and I should have made a cut right, but that's something that already happened and I can't get that play back.

On possibly playing in Spartan Stadium for the last time and having his family here watching…
It was surreal, it was everything that I had dreamed of, having my family here and going out and showing everybody what I can do and represent the Spartan Nation the way they want to be represented. Having that Spartan Dawg mentality where you don't quit and you don't give up no matter the circumstances, you just keep going and keep pushing on. I was just trying to do everything I could for Spartan Nation, Spartan Dawgs, Spartan alums and everyone who represents the Green and White across the world.

Fifth-Year Senior S Xavier Henderson

On how Indiana flourished after only having 7 passing yards…
Explosive plays. I think it might have been three touchdowns where dudes went untouched. We've just got to tackle better, credit to them, they played hard, they played the whole 60 (minutes) we did not.

On what the mindset is going into Penn State…
We just want to win the game. Penn State is a good team. We will watch the film; I mean obviously we would like to make a bowl game, but even if there were no bowl games we would still want to win.

On Coach Tucker saying you have little margin of error…
The way people on social media, so many college teams have such a small margin of error, we have not played to our expectations within the team. It is what it is now. There is nothing we can do to go and change that but we can do something to prepare for next week and try to beat a good Penn State team.

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